The Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme, implemented under the leadership of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) in cooperation with the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) and Ziraat Katılım Bankası A.Ş., was announced to the public with a signing and launch ceremony held on 30 January at the Ziraat Towers of the İstanbul Financial Center. The Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme offers the real sector interest-free financing opportunities with the understanding of “financing with values, for those who produce value”. Through the programme, it is aimed to provide the real sector with access to interest-free financing and to support production and employment.
An Important Step Structured Specifically for the Participation Finance System
Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) President Erdoğan Özegen emphasized that, within the scope of the Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme, it is aimed to provide TRY 9.375 billion in resources to the real sector under the leadership of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) in cooperation with the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) and Ziraat Katılım A.Ş., and that the resources provided will contribute to production, investment and employment.
Stating that the financing model is compliant with participation finance principles, transparent and sustainable, Özegen recalled that KGF has to date provided guarantees for TRY 1 trillion 702 billion in loans to more than 611,000 companies.
Stating that KGF is not merely a guarantee institution but a strategic development partner for the real sector, Özegen thanked MÜSİAD President Burhan Özdemir for his leadership and Ziraat Katılım Bankası General Manager Metin Özdemir for his contributions, and expressed his wish that the cooperation would be beneficial for the country's economy.
We Stand by the Real Sector with Our Strong Support
Ziraat Katılım Bankası General Manager Metin Özdemir emphasized in his speech that Ziraat Katılım has assumed a pioneering role in the sector as Türkiye's first public participation bank. He stated that the bank, which is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its establishment as of 2025, has made important contributions over the past decade to the development of participation banking and to the financing of the real sector.
Expressing that Ziraat Katılım approaches participation banking not merely as a financing model but as a development approach that prioritizes production, trade and employment, Özdemir said: “With our strong public support, our widespread service network and our sound financial structure, we have always stood by the real sector, SMEs above all. With the products and collaborations we have implemented recently, we are making access to interest-free financing even more widespread.”
General Manager Metin Özdemir also pointed out that the Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme, implemented with KGF's support, coincides exactly with Ziraat Katılım's objectives of sustainable growth, real sector-focused financing and deepening the participation finance ecosystem. Özdemir said: “With this programme, while facilitating our SMEs' access to financing, we are creating a strong financing basis that supports investment and production. As Ziraat Katılım, we will continue in the coming period as well to implement new products and collaborations that will increase depth in participation financing.”
We Are Turning the Voice of the Business World into Concrete Solutions
MÜSİAD President Burhan Özdemir, for his part, stated in his speech that, according to the results of the economic assessment they carry out regularly every year with the business world, the most important problem is access to financing. Stating that this data places a responsibility upon them, Özdemir said: “With the reflex that comes from being a civil society organization representing the business world, we shared the voice, demands and needs of the real sector directly with our public institutions, consulted with them and worked together on solutions. The Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme that we are introducing here today is a concrete output of this consultation process.”
Stating that as MÜSİAD they had pioneered the programme as a result of the consultations they held with stakeholder institutions, Özdemir underlined that the programme is directed not only at MÜSİAD members but at the entire real sector. Stating that the programme addresses all enterprises as well, Özdemir said: “Although the Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme has been implemented under MÜSİAD's leadership, it is not limited to MÜSİAD members alone. All enterprises operating in the real sector, whether they are MÜSİAD members or not, will be able to apply to the programme. In this respect the programme has a broad scope and aims to support access to interest-free financing for all enterprises focused on production, trade and employment. With the programme, we have brought into being, in cooperation with our esteemed institutions, a new financing instrument based on participation financing that responds to the real cash flow needs of the real sector.”
In his speech, Burhan Özdemir emphasized that in the new period MÜSİAD will focus on the fundamental issues that directly concern the business world, and expressed that the Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme is the field equivalent of the understanding of “financing with values, for those who produce value”. Özdemir stated that they believe this model will make a direct contribution to the real sector with an outlook that prioritizes production, trade and employment. He also drew attention to the fact that the Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme has the distinction of being the first example developed under MÜSİAD's leadership and implemented in cooperation with public institutions.
About the Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme:
In the first tranche of the Participation Finance Guarantee Support Programme, it is targeted to create a total financing volume of TRY 9.375 billion through Ziraat Katılım with an %80 guarantee ratio and TRY 7.5 billion in KGF guarantees. The financing to be used within the scope of the programme will be used in financing investment and operating expenditures, excluding land and building investments. The programme aims to contribute to production and employment in line with participation banking principles.
